Love for job, Navy leads to award for area recruiter

Passion for her job is what Petty Officer First Class Jillian Favors says helped her recruit more than 100 others into the Navy.

AMANDA HICKEY Daily News Staff

Passion for her job is what Petty Officer First Class Jillian Favors says helped her recruit more than 100 others into the Navy.

For her achievement, Favors received the service’s Centurion Award, which is given to recruiters who enlist 100 recruits during their recruiting tour. Favors achieved the milestone on June 13 when her 100th recruit, Courtney Copeland, was sworn in at Raleigh Military Entrance Processing Station.

Executive Officer Cmdr. Kelly Hinderer said that the award is very prestigious and that few sailors have achieved 100 recruits during a three-year tour. Favors, however, was able to reach that mark with time still left on her recruiting tour. She’ll receive the award at the end of the month.

Favors, stationed at Navy Recruiting Station Jacksonville, reenlisted Wednesday in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in downtown Jacksonville with nearly about half a dozen of her recruits present.

“She’s definitely a future chief,” Hinderer said.

Favors has been in Jacksonville since July 2010. Before that, she spent nine years on various ships and commands.

Copeland, a 24-year-old from Pollocksville, was among the recruits present at Wednesday’s ceremony. Copeland said that she was referred to Favors by a friend and had previously visited a recruiter in New Bern. Favors, she said, made her comfortable and confident in the recruitment process.

“She was very forthcoming, very honest. I could feel the spirit of the Navy in her,” said Copeland, who leaves for basic training in February.

Favors told The Daily News that she opted to enlist in the Navy after graduating college and becoming a teacher. She said she wanted to make a difference but didn’t feel fulfilled teaching. When her cousin mentioned the Navy and she looked into it, she said it fit her and the opportunity to travel after growing up in a small town was appealing.

And recruiting, she said, has been more enjoyable than she thought possible.

Favors said she tells recruits to make the most of their time in the Navy.

“My job is to prep them for the Navy and if I did my job properly, I know they’ll be OK,” she said.

Favors said she still keeps in contact with her own recruiter and since many of her recruits have friended her on Facebook, she hopes to remain a mentor to those sailors in the years to come.

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.